Cars like the Renault Zoe and BMW i3 are rising in value.
Right now isn’t a good time for used car prices – unless we’re talking about electric cars, which are currently bucking the industry trend by appreciating in value.
CarGurus analyzes data on hundreds of thousands of used cars each day to calculate each one’s instant market value. It examined the prices of the four most searched electric cars online since 2017 – the BMW i3, Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe, and Tesla Model S. Its data showed that the value of each car either remained steady or gained in value over several months. the EVs out-performed the most searched for petrol and diesel cars.
The Renault Zoe was a car that performed particularly well, with its average value between January 2017 and November 2019 increased by 18 percent, from £6,425 to £7,612. To compare, the most popular petrol and diesel car, the Ford Fiesta, dropped in value by 22 percent (from £9,165 to £7,160) over the same period.
The BMW i3 also did well, with 2014 models increasing by 1 percent over the course of 2019. Comparable combustion engined Minis dropped by 14 percent over the same time.
The UK’s best-selling EV, the Nissan Leaf, also kept a good used value, despite the high number of examples available. The earlier models perform particularly well, with a 2015 Nissan Leaf’s value now just nine percent lower than it was in January 2017. While that might not sound too good considering the result of the Zoe and the i3, a comparable Volkswagen Golf dropped 17 percent of its value over the same period.
Snapshot of CarGurus data
|
IMV Jan 2017 |
IMV Jan 2019 |
IMV Nov 2019 |
Value change since Jan 2017 |
Value change Jan-Nov 2019 |
||
|
Electric supermini car |
Renault Zoe (2015 model year) |
£6,425 |
£6,683 |
£,7612 |
+18% |
+14% |
|
Petrol/diesel equivalent |
Ford Fiesta (2015 model year) |
£9,165 |
£8,184 |
£7,160 |
-22% |
-13% |
|
Electric premium supermini car |
BMW i3 (2014 model year) |
£17,445 (Apr 2017) |
£14,800 |
£15,006 |
-14% (since Apr 2017) |
+1% |
|
Petrol/diesel equivalent |
Mini hatchback (2015 model year) |
£10,815 (Apr 2017) |
£10,253 |
£8,862 |
-18% (since Apr 2017) |
-14% |
|
Electric family car |
Nissan Leaf (2015 model year) |
£11,512 |
£11,498 |
£10,438 |
-9% |
-9% |
|
Petrol/diesel equivalent |
Volkswagen Golf (2015 model year) |
£16,130 |
£13,063 |
£11,576 |
-17% |
-11% |
|
Electric luxury car |
Tesla Model S (2015 model year) |
£57,746 (Oct 2017) |
£48,961 |
£40,957 |
-29% (since Oct 2017) |
-16% |
|
Petrol/diesel equivalent |
Mercedes-Benz S-Class (2015 model year) |
£50,783 (Oct 2017) |
£41,213 |
£32,166 |
-37% (since Oct 2017) |
-22% |